Cauldron
Built inside the mouth of a dormant volcano, the city of Cauldron is aptly named. The rim of the extinct volcano acts as a natural defense against the local monsters. This, along with the discovery of underground complexes below the city, favored Cauldron’s growth over the centuries. Several decades ago, rainy winters resulted in massive flood damage to the lower reaches of Cauldron. As the local churches have successfully dealt with this annual problem, The Flood Festival is founded. Seven years ago, a plague of filth fever struck Cauldron. Several hundred people die before the plague is brought under control. Stores Cauldron has access to: * A Blacksmith * A Provision Shop * A Locksmith Shop: owned by Keygan Ghelve. * Skie's Treasury - Local Magic Item Shop: Skie’s Treasury is a modest building crafted from blocks of volcanic stone. The façade of the building bears dozens, if not hundreds, of symbols and sigils that have been carved into the face of the stone with chisels. One door and a pair of tiny windows face the road and overlook the lake below. Above the door, a sign proclaims the establishment to be Skie’s Treasury, but more impressive are the numerous items of treasure – rings, coins, wands, necklaces, rods, potions, scrolls and more – that seem to slowly orbit the sign and shine with soft golden light. Every now and then, two of the items bump against each other, ringing softly like a wind chime. * Tygot's Old Things - Antiques and Oddities: Tygot Mispas, a 120-year-old halfling who has been retired from adventuring for two decades, owns a small but well-stocked antiquity shop on Lava Avenue. “Tygot’s Old Things” specializes in nonmagical art objects gathered from across the known world. His shop is a two-story structure with a small flat on the upper floor and a well-organized business area on the lower. The main shop itself contains an impressive assortment of less valuable antiquities, mostly vases, statuettes, small furniture, and tapestries. Taverns * The Tipped Tankard Tavern * The Drunken Morkoth Inn: This is perhaps the most popular inn in the city. A regular stop for many merchants and traveling adventurers, the combination of comfortable beds, good food, and reasonable prices makes it a favorite among the city’s returning visitors. Each of the rooms here is decorated with a humorous painting of Cauldron’s legendary lake monster, a large morkoth. The paintings depict the morkoth in any number of embarrassing and ridiculous scenes, always with the morkoth drunk and confused, and often in incongruous locations. * Coy Nixie: The Coy Nixie is an upscale tavern and dancehall owned and operated by the Aslaxin family. Although prices here tend to be nearly double the normal asking price, only the Cusp of Sunrise rivals the food and drink. These two locations have a healthy competition – while the Cusp is generally held to have better food, drink, and entertainment, there are no membership fees at the Coy Nixie. * Cusp of Sunrise: This high-society club is a favorite place for Cauldron’s rich and powerful to meet and relax. Owned and operated by Lady Ophellha Knowlern. Temples * The Church of Grungni * The Temple of Aldir: The two-story Temple of Aldir, it's white marble walls suffused with veins of vivid blue, stands in stark contrast to the buildings of bare black stone that flank it on the north end of Obsidian Avenue. A pair of white marble statues depicting armored warriors stands on either side of the temple’s heavy oaken door. Each of the statues raises a great mace to the sky. Above the door’s marble architrave are boldly inscribed the following words: “Within Law Lives Hope.” * The Cathedral of Morr Points of Interest * Lantern Street Orphanage: The orphanage rests on the corner of Lantern Street and Lava Avenue, its charcoal-colored stones held together with mold-encrusted mortar. The windows on both stories are tightly shuttered, but a few slivers of light manage to escape from within. Lanterns hang on either side of the oaken front door, mounted to which is a green copper knocker shaped like a smiling gargoyle’s visage, its nostrils pierced by a copper ring. * Lakeside Pavilion: This open pavilion is one of the oldest structures in Cauldron. Said to have been formed via magic cast by Surabar Spellmason himself, the pavilion is traditionally where the lord mayor issues announcements and decrees. It has also become a favorite place after dark for illicit meetings. *The Last Laugh is operating here. *Guards of the Spear currently have a presence here.